Mission Statement

The Gastroenterology Foundation of South Africa was established in 2006 with the aim of contributing towards the continuing medical education of medical and surgical Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists. Shortly after the inauguration of the Foundation, our focus turned to include all fellows training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology including medical, surgical and paediatric fellows. In addition we encourage and contribute to the funding of research in these fields.

Over the last 10 years the Foundation has in South Africa established itself as an effective organization attracting and continuing to collaborated with a number of international organizations in Europe and the USA namely the AGA, EASL, UEG, ESGE, ASGE and the WGO bringing post graduate courses to our academic meetings in SA and SSA.

Since its inception the Gastro Foundation has raised over R29 million in the form of generous pledges mostly from the pharmaceutical and the device industry. It has sponsored 18 research grants, 71 travel awards to fellows for international travel and 289 for local travel, and has awarded two international scholarships, one to Brown University in the USA and one to Oxford University in the UK.

Since 2015 we have actively extended out activities in SSA with meetings in Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Sudan.

2016 was a milestone in the history of the Gastroenterology Foundation of South Africa. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of its founding with two notable events - the commitment to form a Sub - Saharan Society which was announced in Cape Town in December 2018 as GHASSA (The Gastroenterology and Hepatology Association of Sub - Saharan Africa) joining 12 SSA countries, and the announcement of the Gastroenterology Foundation of SSA which evolved from the foundation which has been so successful in SA.

GHASSA is an effective way of co - ordinating gastroenterologists and hepatologists and their societies from various countries in SSA and together with the Gastroenterology Foundation of SSA, a major priority over the next 10 years, will be to concentrate on achieving in SSA what the foundation has so successfully achieved in SA .

Where we are now

Since its inception 18 years ago, the Gastroenterology Foundation of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has raised over R50 million (approximately USD 3.0 million) in the form of generous pledges from the pharmaceutical and the device industry. It has sponsored over 20 research grants, 102 travel awards to fellows in training for international travel and 415 local travel awards. In addition, we have awarded two international scholarships, one to Brown University in the USA and two to Oxford University in the United Kingdom. In 2022 we assisted with a Fellowship to Ghent for advanced endoscopy and in 2023 we have facilitated 2 fellowships – one for Liver transplantation at Kings College Hospital and the other in IBD at St Thomas’s Hospital London. The recipient to Brown University, Professor Mashiko Setshedi, obtained a Ph.D. at Brown and is now Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital.
The Gastro Foundation has established itself, in South Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as an effective organization contributing to both the education of medical and surgical gastroenterology and hepatology fellows and also to those established gastroenterologists and hepatologists in private practice.
We have successful collaborations with a number of international organizations including the AGA (American Gastroenterology Association), EASL (European Association for the Study of Liver Disease), UEG (United European Gastroenterology), WGO (World Gastroenterology Organization), ASGE (American Society of Gastroenterology), IASL (International Association for the Study of Liver), AASLD (American Association for the Study of Liver Disease) and the WEO (World Endoscopic organization) bringing various post graduate courses from Europe and the USA to our academic meetings in SSA.

Meetings

All our programs in South Africa continue and these include a strong presence at SAGES, the annual national GI meeting in South Africa, and meetings devoted to various interest groups such as Acid Peptic and Motility diseases, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Liver diseases, Endoscopy and Patient Blood Management. In addition, interest group meetings have facilitated ad boards for the publication of SSA guidelines and position statements. The SSA GI guidelines for Patient Blood Management (PBM) are now published in the SAMJ. Guidelines for the screening and treatment of viral hepatitis, MAFLD (Metabolic dysfunction Associated Fatty Liver Disease) and H pylori infection in SSA are underway.

Fellows Post Graduate Training

The Fellows meeting held early in February/March annually has proven to be a popular meeting for all gastroenterology, hepatology fellows and paediatric fellows in training and is one of the most successful initiatives the Foundation hosts. Twenty-three fellows attended the inaugural meeting in 2010.
In 2020 47 fellows from SA and SSA attended with 25 faculty members.
In 2022 the meeting hosted 10 Sub-Saharan fellows, 38 local fellows and 22 heads of department. In addition, a grant to transmit the entire post graduate meeting virtually was successfully negotiated and 40 fellows attended virtually from SSA.
In March 2023 we hosted the 14th Fellows post graduate meeting at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West and 57 fellows and 27 faculty attended. Included in the program was a hands-on endoscopy and ultrasound station.

GI Endoscopy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Endoscopic workshops are now included in our meetings both in SA and SSA. The Best of the annual ASGE post graduate course is proving to be a useful endoscopic teaching course and all fellows benefit from a Gastro Foundation funded 3-year free membership to the ASGE which allows fellows access to the monthly journal and free online access to the comprehensive endoscopic teaching aides.
A joint symposium by the American Society of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy and the Gastroenterology (ASGE) and GHASSA was held at the DDW meeting in Chicago, Saturday 6 May 2023. Speakers included Mashiko Setshedi from South Africa, Michael Mwachiro from Kenya, Leolin Katsidzira from Zimbabwe and Ahmad Aly Madkour from Egypt with moderators from South Africa and Nigeria.
In addition, we hosted the Best of the ASGE post graduate course held at the DDW in Chicago in May
2023 at the SAGES conference in August 2023. Strengthen the collaboration with the ASGE allows us to present the annual postgraduate course to the rest of SSA
We are presently collaborating with the WEO with the aim of strengthening endoscopy units in SSA The GIEQ’s endoscopy training program -
Dr Vikash Lala, a Wits graduate, has just returned from the University Hospital in Ghent, Belgium where with the Foundation’s assistance, he completed a 6-month course in advanced endoscopy. He will now focus on strengthening endoscopy in SSA using the GIEGS (Ghent International Endoscopy Quality Symposium) online resources.

Our focus now is to extend these endoscopic activities into SSA virtually using the G – ECHO platform.

POCUS - point of care Ultrasound training for Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists

Over the last two decades, the use of Ultrasonography by clinicians at the bedside has become increasingly popular as devices have become smaller, more accessible and more affordable.
Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) refers to the use of ultrasound, in the hands of the clinician as opposed to the radiologist, and at the patient’s bedside. POCUS provides diagnostic information that allows for a rapid diagnosis, often without the need for additional investigations and allowing for management to start promptly.

With this in mind, and with Intestinal Ultrasound beginning to feature strongly at GI International Conferences and entering management guidelines, the Gastro Foundation hosted the first Liver/Intestinal POCUS meeting in Cape Town on the 29th and 30th of July 2022 with 26 Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists representing all GI/Hepatology academic units in South Africa.

Professor Gerhard Rogler from Switzerland’s Zurich University Hospital led the course along with his colleague Dr Luc Biedermann.
This was highly successful and indicated a huge appetite for ultrasound training for GI Hepatologists.

POCUS for Post graduate GI Hepatology fellows at the Fellows post graduate meeting is now an established part of the Fellows training and will be part of the annual course.

G-ECHO weekly webinars

In 2018 the introduction of the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) model of tele-mentoring for the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis B and C was facilitated in South Africa by the Foundation and driven by the Cape Town Faculty. ECHO links the Cape Town Hub with spokes in Johannesburg (SA), Kumasi (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on a monthly basis and participation has grown as it has matured. The Foundation funded a monthly Viral Hepatitis ECHO program (VHSSA) together with quarterly 2-hour symposiums.
Beginning in October 2020, and in view of the COVID pandemic, we initiated G-ECHO (GI Hepatology -ECHO) to other aspects of Gastroenterology with a weekly programme which alternates GI Endoscopy, Screening and treatment of Liver cancer (HCC), Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD), Patient Blood Management (PBM) and an ECHO program devoted to Pathology beginning with Liver clinico-pathologic case conference sessions and including GI pathology attracting many hepatic and GI histopathologists. A dedicated platform Paediatric GI joined the G – ECHO program in 2022 and will continue in 2023.
In May 2022 Sanjeev Arora, founder of ECHO from the University of New Mexico USA visited SA. During the week of his stay, the Foundation hosted him in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town and discussed future projects and strategies to increasing ECHO’s presence in SSA.
During 2022 the G-ECHO attracted 1623 participants from SSA with an average of 20 – 40 participants joining per session. In 2023 the weekly G – ECHO platform participation grew to 3167 participants taking part in the weekly G – ECHO platform. In addition the Foundation hosts a monthly Viral hepatitis ECHO platform.
G - ECHO continues in its present format with weekly webinars in 2024.

All G-ECHO presentations are recorded, and the recorded webinars are available on the Gastro Foundation website under the G-ECHO logo plus on the Gastro Foundation YouTube channel.

A G - ECHO platform for the training of Medical Gastroenterology fellows and another for GI and HPB Surgical fellows, established in 2022, is currently on hold and will be reviewed in time..



Karin Fenton

Tel: (+27) (21) 404 3062 (9am-2pm)
Fax: (+27) (21) 447 0582
Email: karin.fenton@uct.ac.za

Address:
P O Box 13241
Mowbray
7705